4io 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 30 
[ Woman and Home ] 
From Day to Day. 
NEW-FANGLED SCITOOT>S. 
They taught him to hemstitch and they 
taught him how to sing, 
And how to make a basket out of varie¬ 
gated string. 
And how to fold a paper so he wouldn’t 
hurt his thumb. 
They taught a. lot to Bertie, but he 
couldn’t 
do a 
sum. 
They taught him how to mold the head 
of Hercules in clay, 
And how to tell the difC’i’ence ’twixt the 
bluebird and the jay. 
And how to sketch a horsie in a little 
picture frame. 
But strangely they forgot to teach him 
how to 
spell his 
name. 
Now, Bertie’s pa was cranky, and he went 
one da.y to find. 
What ’twas they did that made his son so 
backward in the mind. 
“1 don’t want Bertie wrecked,” he cried, 
his temper far from cool, 
“I want him educated!” so he 
took him 
out of 
school. 
—Newark News. 
* • 
Most of our friends who make rag car¬ 
pets use old black stockings for carpet 
rags. We think their best use is as stove 
cloths; they are not linty, like most soft 
old materials, and rub off the stove very 
nicely. 
An ice pad now offered for use in re¬ 
frigerators is said to prevent wasting of 
the ice very materially. It is made of 
some substance encased between two 
layers of wire netting, and is placed in 
the bottom of the ice box, for the ice to 
stand upon. The pad is kept wet, the 
idea being, apparently, that the circula¬ 
tion of air in the ice box will cause 
enough evaporation to lower the tem¬ 
perature. 
4t 
We heard recently of a misguided hus¬ 
band up in Maine who, objecting to cer¬ 
tain chores about the house which fell 
to his share, quoted Scripture to his wife 
as authority showing that the household 
duties should properly be assigned to 
the woman. The good wife replied by 
reading to her surprised husband 2 
Kings 21:13, “I will wipe out Jerusalem 
as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and 
turning it upside down.” That husband 
has wiped the dishes ever since. 
' ♦ 
Putty is ordinarily used for filling 
cracks in common floors, which have be¬ 
come so shrunken as to leave wide 
spaces between the boards, but in de¬ 
fault of this a substitute is made by pre¬ 
paring a thick boiled paste of flour and 
water, then tearing old newspaper into 
bits and stirring into the paste until 
stiff. This homemade papier mach6 is 
stuffed into the cracks with a strong 
knife; it soon hardens into a perma¬ 
nent cement, and will take a stain like 
the remainder of the floor. 
♦ 
A ooRRE-snoNDENT recently applied to 
one of the great daily papers in New 
York, asking for information concern¬ 
ing Sisera. He had met with the name 
in general literature, and could not un¬ 
derstand the references made, because of 
his total ignorance on the subject. As 
this inquirer wrote like a person of fair 
intelligence, his ignorance bore out the 
assertions of several prominent educa¬ 
tors who say that lack of instruction in 
Biblical history becomes more marked, 
year after year, among students, ofcen 
rendering them quite unable to appre¬ 
ciate references made by great literary 
masters. In spite of this the Bible is 
still by far the best selling book in the 
world, as it has always been since the in¬ 
vention of printing, and notwithstanding 
the enormous number of copies sold 
every year, there is almost invariably an 
annual increase. During the year 1902, 
1,993,558 Bibles and Testaments were 
sold by the American Bible Society, an 
increase of 269,767 over tfle previous 
year. Of these 734,649 were sold in the 
United States and 1,258,909 were sent to 
foreign countries. 
Here are some suggestions in cake 
making, offered by a graduate of the Na¬ 
tional Training School of Cookery in 
London, who has been giving lessons in 
this country: 
To get a fine grained cake, beat thorough¬ 
ly after the flour is added. Sweet milk 
makes cake that cuts like pound cake. 
Sour milk makes spongy, light cake. Al¬ 
ways sift flour before measuring, then il 
may be sifted again with the baking pow¬ 
der to insure their being thoroughly 
blended. In making fruit cakes add the 
fruit before putting in the flour, as this 
will prevent it falling to the bottom of the 
cake. Flouring the fruit is unnecessary, 
unless the fruit is damp. If a cake cracks 
open while baking, the recipe contains too 
much flour. In creaming butter and sugar, 
when the butter is too hard to blend easily, 
warm the bowl and if necessary warm the 
sugar, but never warm the butter, as this 
will change both texture and flavor of the 
cake. The smaller the cake the .hotter 
should be the oven. Large rich cakes re¬ 
quire very slow baking. Grease cake pans 
with lard or drippings, as butter will be 
likely to make the cake stick, owing to 
the salt in it. 
* 
An Indiana judge recently decided 
that the cooking of onions in an apart¬ 
ment house is a nuisance, and must be 
abated. He is no doubt right, as far as 
many careless housewives are concern¬ 
ed, for anyone who has had experience 
in city flats knows the mingled odors of 
cooking that are permitted to float 
through the surrounding atmosphere: 
still an attack on the onion seems not 
only an affront to personal rights, but 
a slur upon a wholesome and deserving 
vegetable also. The onion is not always 
well cooked, however, nor used with dis¬ 
cretion. There are too many housekeep¬ 
ers who think that the use of strong- 
flavored onions will disguise inferior 
materials or indifferent cookery. Stringy 
old red onions used in a hurriedly-cook¬ 
ed meat stew are enough to disgust one 
with the vegetable, yet the red onion is 
excellent for general cooking, though 
for stewing or boiling we prefer the 
white, because more sightly when cook¬ 
ed. For frying—a humble but savory 
dish—w'e prefer red onions. They are 
improved if, after slicing, we boil them 
quickly for about 20 minutes in salted 
water, then drain, and fry brown in hot 
butter or clarified beef dripping. They 
catch and burn very easily, and for this 
reason they are often not sufficiently 
cooked. 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use“Mrs.Wins- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your chiidren 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adi). 
The Rural Patterns. 
A pretty house jacket will be found a 
great comfort during warm weather. 
The model shown is made with loose 
fronts, under-arm gores, a back with in¬ 
verted pleats that is attached to a shal¬ 
low yoke, a shawl collar and elbow 
sleeves. The fronts are lapped in double- 
breasted style and are held by invisible 
fastenings. The sleeves are edged with 
graduated circular frills. The quantity 
of material required for the medium size 
is 4% yards 27 inches, 3i/i yards 32 
inches wide, or 3% yards 44 inches wide. 
The pattern No. 4320 is cut in sizes for 
4399 Mlsse.s’ Tucked Waist, 
12 to 16 yrs. 
a 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40-inch bust measure; 
price 10 cents from this office. 
The tucked waist shown can be made 
of the needle, all the raw edges of the 
fabric opened out and adjusted in posi¬ 
tion. This process will often show how 
small a portion of the fabric is really 
gone, and how small a mend is really 
necessary to restore the integrity of the 
stocking. Then a row of fine stitches 
should be run crosswise of the weave, 
holding the left thumb over the thread 
as it is drawn into position. No knots 
should be made, but a half-inch of the 
cotton left to be cut off later. When the 
torn edges are reached see that the 
needle catches into each stitch, that 
there may be no further raveling back. 
Then run other rows at right angles to 
the first, always holding the left thumb 
over the thread to prevent puckering by 
too close drawing. If the needle is fine 
enough to prevent further tearing of the 
worn material, and the cotton extremely 
fine, what seemed a large hole can be 
successfully repaired in a few minutes 
and the wearer will gratefully dispense 
with the conspicuous darn, and may 
even remain in ignorance of the repair¬ 
ing process. Our manufacturers of darn¬ 
ing cottons continue to supply the mar¬ 
ket with coarse material, and we are ob¬ 
liged to resort to the so-called nun’s cot¬ 
ton, imported from France and designed 
for marking rather than mending pur¬ 
poses. Fortunately, this may be obtain¬ 
ed in white, black and tan color, and in 
fineness, finish and dye is all that can 
be desired. elt.a h. cooper. 
with or without lining. The front is 
tucked to yoke depth only, and forms 
soft folds below, but the backs are tuck- 
ea for their entire length. The trim¬ 
ming is arranged on indicated lines. The 
sleeves are tucked for several inches be¬ 
low the shoulders, then fall free and 
are widened to form the soft full puffs 
that are finished with deep cuffs. At 
the neck is a standing collar. The quan¬ 
tity of material required for the medium 
size is 314 yards 21 inches wide, throe 
yards 27 inches wide, 2i/^ yards 32 inches 
wide or two yards 44 inches wide, with 
yards of insertion and % yard of all- 
over lace to trim as illustrated. The 
pattern No. 4399 is cut in sizes for 
misses 12, 14 and 16 years of age; price 
10 cents from this office. 
If you use Grain-0 in place of 
coffee you will enjoy it just as 
much for it tastes the same; yet, it 
is like a food to the system, dis¬ 
tributing the full substance of the 
pure grain with every drop. 
TRY IT TO-DAY. 
At grocers everywhere; 15c. and 26c. per package. 
A dtirabli', 
sanitary and 
beautllul 
wall coating. ALABASTINE Is not aclieap hot 
water kalsoniine, stuck on with glue, and 
furnishing a breeding ground for disease 
germs and vermin. Write for complete Infor¬ 
mation, mentioning this paper. 
Aiabastine Co., Grand Rapids, Mich, 
and 105 Water Street, New York City. 
Mending Hosiery. 
The repairing of hosiery is a necessary 
and oft-recurring task, and that it 
should be correctly and economically 
dene is of importance to the wearer as 
well as to the worker. Nothing is more 
prevocative of pain and fatigue than a 
clumsily mended stocking, yet it is safe 
to say that no branch of the family sew¬ 
ing is so unscientifically done. The use 
of too coarse cotton and too large a 
needle is responsible for much of the 
clumsy mending that makes the darned 
stocking a thing to be dreaded. Few 
seamstresses remember that the fabric 
to be repaired is as fine as that used in 
a glove, and requires equally delicate 
materials and equal care. But the heavy 
needle and thread are employed to make 
coarse and clumsy stitches, and the work 
often performed in a poor light and with 
undue haste. A china egg or darning- 
ball should always be used. Then with 
the finest of marking cotton and a needle 
just large enough to be easily threaded 
the rent should be carefully repaired. 
Before beginning to sew, let the hole 
be gently drawn together with the point 
DON'T BELIEVE IT " 
Syracuse Easy Washer 
is the greatest labor-saving device yet produced for 
making woman’s work easier. Wash with it for five 
weeks, then if not satisfied return the washer. We 
pay the freight both ways. Write for price-list and 
free book of mouern formulas for laundry use. 
Dodge & Zuill.lSSQ S. Clinton St., Syracuse, N.Y. 
A RURAL MAIL BOX 
Should be 
simple, neat, 
strong, and 
durable. 
A box may be 
approved by 
the P. M. Gen¬ 
eral and still 
not be satisfac¬ 
tory to the pur¬ 
chaser. 
Our “ Uncle 
Sam’s Favor- = 
ite” has official 
approval and 
also the ap¬ 
proval of thou¬ 
sands who are 
using it and 
kiKj'v It's all right. 
BOND STEEL POST CO., 
For PrCvrent Time 
Tor Future Time 
For y\\\ Time 
E,LCIN 
TIME, 
Every Elgin Watch is fully guaranteed. All jewelers have 
Elgin Watches. “Timemakers and Timekeepers," an illus¬ 
trated history of the watch, sent free upon request to 
Elgin National Watch Co., Elgin, ill. 
